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[Chronz1]

Id like to get some feedback on this matter, are both equally important?

[thref23]

I think Kirk Hinrich is the better player. When putting together player "composite scores," based on last year's performances, Kirk Hinrich ended up as one of the top 20 players in the league (for me), Ben Gordon was just outside of the top 50. He scored higher than Gordon in both offensive and defensive categories.

When push comes to shove Ben Gordon may be a real good scorer and respectable defender, when push comes to shove he's still an undersized SG, and by casual observation I would say his game could be a little more efficient all things considered. Hinrich has a very efficient game, seems to run an offense well, can score respectably, and is a decent defender. He's a championship contender piece IMO, whereas Ben Gordon's a great sixth man.

Only 45% of Ben Gordon's FGs were assisted last season. With the exception of Hinrich, who had 46% of his FGs assisted, nobody else on the team is nearly so low in this category. So who's responsible for everyone else's offense? Ben Gordon, or Kirk Hinrich? The answer's obvious. Of course, other top scorers around the league have low percentages of their FGs assisted, but Ben Gordon isn't Kobe or Lebron and Hinrich isn't that much worse of a scorer.

Anyways in other words, even when Ben Gordon is efficient, he's not doing a good job of involving his team offensively. Thats a good thing perhaps if you want him to come off the bench and carry a second unit without viable offensive talent, or if he's on the level of Kobe or Lebron all around, but IMO not an ideal thing if he's only Ben Gordon and you have to make him a major part of your team in order to justify his salary (even if its good for the Bulls given current roster make up). His TS% is high perhaps (highest on the team, credit to him), but I would argue some of his missed shots are coming at the expense of getting better shots for teamates, and/or if he involved teamates more he might even get better shots for himself. And, his assist/turnover ratio last season was worse than Ben Wallace's.

You could argue that Ben Gordon is more important because the Bulls are exceptionally weak @ SG and because they need the added scoring punch, and he could still play spot minutes @ PG. But I think thats somewhat moot, as either Hinrich or Duhon could contribute more @ SG if needed, and I think the Bulls probably need to trade Ben Gordon anyways in order to take the next step necessary to become a contender.

I think you could argue that Ben Gordon is more important right now, but IMO Hinrich is more important in the long run.